6 and 5... and 4" as well. 5.75" on the way.

The 4"s and a 6" are ready to coat. The 5" branch bar still needs its second little cross bar.

If you were wondering why I'm moving slower on bike stuff: I've been doing lots of manual work at the wood job and am often too tired to keep going.

 Weird little doodad hanger things for some handmade art necklace/trinkets my mother brought back from Turkey.

The rain finally let up for the first ride of fall. Things were windy, damp and cloudy but fun was had. This jump in the first pic below was getting us at first. The landing had to be stuck perfectly and the transitions pushed as hard as possible to proceed past the long-and-low. But once figured out, the line was great.

Rat snakes taking the action in from the trees.

 So, yep. These RC forks are/were rad. The QR takes three seconds to get the wheel off as well. I'm 245 lbs and didn't bottom the thing out.

I'm keeping this one obviously, but I have five more of these Argyle RC forks for sale. I decided to run one this weekend (and perhaps permanently) to see why no one is really biting on these for their old straight steerer frames. All of the "offers" have been low ball.  Other (Manitou camp) riders have been trying to convince me that the fork is crap. I've had one street ride (mostly high speed gaps off of ledges) and I can say that it is as stiff as my Marzocchi. It is quiet-er than any fork that I've had. At 90mm, it isn't a super plush fork but it does feel solid. I will be at some big jumps tomorrow to give a good dirt test. I can't say anything about longevity obviously, and hopefully the steer tube is as strong as the Marzos.

Nathan's

 This "Tinted clear II" wasn't as dark as the Tinted clear that used to be available. But it is darker than the straight clear. There is the difference below.

Looks like these 4" bars are going out. 

Nathan's frame is a few hours away from finished. I'll need a good calm day to powdercoat.

A little screenshot of the day-job computer work. 

Just have to bump the brake bosses out by one millimeter and then it is on to finishing the front triangle of Nathan's frame.

The dry weather finally hit. My immediate outsource work is ready to ship. A few days of boxing  stuff up and then its back to bars.

 This clear came out much more so than when the humidity was higher.

I should be a lot less tired after the day job now that the weather is cooler and dryer. I have been doing ~5 hours of computer designing/drafting and ~5 hours of physically building parts. I'm mostly designing/making custom (wood) molds for concrete, so its a bit like designing a boat, then racing the clock to get it made as fast as possible. When it is hot and humid outside the fabricating part is exhausting. So I should be back to making more bike stuff than last month's relative lull.

The last fork is ready for a good dry coating day... not that any are in the forecast.

Bars are next.

 Four more frames to coat. The forks are 90% coated as well (one more to weld still). This new clear is a little cloudy but lays down very well and is thick enough to prevent rust in a single coat. Prismatic's clear is thinner and lays down a little lumpy, especially in subsequent coats.

Not perfect weather for statically charging plastic particles:

Outsource stuff

 Not much that I can show for the next few weeks, as I'm finishing a small run of outsource parts.

I have taken on a new design job at a large company, so I can now afford to keep the focus on custom bikes. It had been my plan to shift to a fixed product line, but making custom parts will be the goal again. So I'll keep doing what I've done for the past eight years and just make whatever people ask of me. It is a huge relief to get to make bike stuff and not have to make bike stuff.

unscheduled detour

Mom needed a new frame. This top tube sits 5" lower and has a more modern geometry than the automatic shifting "Landrider" that it is replacing. A steeper 69.5 head angle and a 30mm drop replacing the 67* HA and 13mm drop. A straight 1.125" steerer fork replacing the old 1" threaded. 

I still might convince her to ditch the clunky shifting derailleur and just do a single speed in back and two gears up front. I noticed that she only really rides in the 16t in back and uses the 36t and 46t shifter up front for the few areas on the greenbelt with moderate hills

 The one-off dropouts required recessed areas for the hanger and its chainring bolt. I actually used a 1" hole saw in the mill to machine the surface of the hanger's recessed area and had pretty decent results.

22 on the way

Dialed 26"ers

Dialed 26"ers: 23" trans gunmetal and 22.5" Coffee

                                                

23" top tube and 22.5" top tube, 17" (432mm) and 16.5" (419mm) reach:

44 inset headtube  (ZS 44/28.6/EC44/40)

https://www.jensonusa.com/Cane-Creek-40-ZS44EC44-Headset-Tapered-Black-ZS44286EC4440?pt_source=googleads&pt_medium=cpc&pt_campaign=shopping_us&pt_keyword=&gclid=CjwKCAjwwdTbBRAIEiwAYQf_E2qUfwvSvJ3jW8MAF053C4TQoFSQc1m8BgT83FeVllUsZHak86ZqRxoCNfoQAvD_BwE

69 HA, 74 SA, 

25mm BB drop

14.7" CS, 

Euro threaded 73 BB, 

25.4 seatpost size

Supertherm tubes

designed for a 23-26t sprocket but a 32t can work with a slightly angled chainline.

Fits a 2.3" slammed amd a 2.4" tire at ~15"

I'd have made more frames but I'm out of disc dropouts at the moment. My old water jet place got rid of the competent workers so I'll have to go to the laser cutters and hope that things get scaled right etc.